Microbiological surveillance of operation theatres: Five year retrospective analysis from a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

Abstract

Introduction:Microbiological contamination of air and environment in the operation theaters (OTs) are major risk factor for surgical site and other hospital-associated infections.Objectives: The aim was to identify bacterial colonization of surfaces and equipment and to determine the microbial contamination of air in the OTs of a tertiary care hospital.Materials and Methods:Five years (January 2010–December 2014) retrospective analysis of the data obtained from routine microbiological surveillance of the five OTs of the hospital was done. Surface samples were taken with wet swabs from different sites and equipment. Bacterial species were isolated and identified by conventional methods. Air quality surveillance of OTs was done by settle plate method.Results: A total of 4387 samples were collected from surfaces and articles of various OTs. Out of these only 195 (4.4%), samples showed bacterial growth and yielded 210 isolates. The predominant species isolated was Bacillus with 184 (87.6%) isolates followed by coagulase-negative Staphylococcus 17 (8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus 6 (2.9%), and Enteroccoccus spp. 3 (1.4%). Analysis of the OT air samples showed least colony forming unit (cfu) rate of air (27 cfu/m3) in ophthalmology OT and highest rate of 133 cfu/m3 in general surgery OT.Conclusion:The study shows that OTs of our hospital showed a very low bacterial contamination rate on surface swabbing and a cfu count per m3 of air well within permissible limits.

Comparison of Active and Passive Methods of Air Sampling to Evaluate the Microbial Contamination of Air in Operation Theaters

“…The discrepancies in the values of CFU obtained by these two methods can be clarified by the fact that sampling of air by passive method helps in collecting larger particles which settled by gravity. The slit air sampler in the active method draws a fixed volume of air containing particles of variable sizes 16. However, many published research work has been carried out, but the guidelines are still not established to be better and better used.…”

“…The commonest bacterial species were isolated Bacillus species (87.6%), followed by coagulasenegative Staphylococci (8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (2.9%), and Enterococcus species (1.4%). All ICUs (100%) samples showed growth of contaminants and pathogens 16 . A similar result had been reported by Javed I et al 11 and Sharma D et al 13 .…”

A comparison of several media types and basic techniques used to assess outdoor airborne fungi in Melbourne, Australia

“…These, however, have been found to have a poor and variable recovery rate from standardised indicator-organism seeded surfaces between several commercial products [22]. Other problematic methods exist such as settleplates exposed to air for a time [23][24][25][26][27], or the detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), diphosphate (ADP) and/or monophosphate (AMP) from biological substances on various surfaces but is not good for mould and bacterial spores [28,29]. LASER airborne particle counters are unable to determine if a particle is a viable spore, nonviable spore, other whole organisms, pollen, mineral grit, sawdust, skin flakes, etc.…”

Bacterial contaminants of operation theatre settings in public and Private Sector Hospitals in Gojra.

“…Microbiological surveillance is an important part of an infection control program, providing data concerning types, and numbers of bacteriological flora. 2 If sterilization of operation theaters is not sufficient, it lead to worse predictive results of post-operative patients due to surgical site infections. 3 Source of bacteriological contamination is diverse, from surgical/medical team, theater gowns, movement within the units, foot wares, leakage of the wounds, gloves and hands, collection bags and transportation of patients.…”